[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 43 (Thursday, April 6, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3206-S3207]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    NATIONAL AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise today to commemorate National 
Autism Awareness Month and to urge my fellow Senators to continue to 
back efforts to fight this disorder and support the families affected 
by it.
  Autism is a complex developmental disability that is the result of a 
neurological disorder that affects the normal functions and development 
of the brain, which affects social and communication skills. Autism is 
a spectrum disorder, making early diagnosis crucial to minimize the 
symptoms through specialized intervention programs.
  Autism and its associated behaviors have been estimated to occur in 
as many as 2 to 6 in every 1,000 individuals. As many as 1.5 million 
Americans today are believed to have some form of autism. The 
Department of Education indicates that autism is growing at a rate of 
10 to 17 percent per year. At these rates, the prevalence of autism 
could reach 4 million Americans in the next decade.
  The prevalence of autism has increased astronomically in the past 
decade, and in certain areas of New Jersey, the rates are higher still. 
We know far too little about this disorder, and the work of the Centers 
for Disease Control, CDC, and the National Institutes of Health, NIH, 
is vital to our efforts to learn more about the nature and incidence of 
autism.
  I am a proud cosponsor of S. 843, the Combating Autism Act of 2005, 
which authorizes $860 million over 5 years to combat autism through 
research, screening, intervention, and education. I urge my fellow 
Senators to support the passage of this bill so that we can continue 
efforts to eliminate autism.
  Congress approved the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 
IDEA, in 1975, requiring States to provide an appropriate education to 
students with special needs. While it committed to providing 40 percent 
of the additional costs for educating such students, today the Federal 
Government funds only 17.8 percent of the cost. In the fiscal year 2006 
Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill, 
the Federal Government cut back on its share of the cost of providing 
special education. This leaves State governments and local school 
districts to choose between paying the extra cost or cutting programs. 
It is vital that Congress fund IDEA at the fully authorized level. I 
urge my fellow Senators to support IDEA and pass S. 2185, the IDEA Full 
Funding Act.
  Congress must remain committed to supporting efforts by medical 
researchers, doctors, schools, State and local governments, and 
families to learn more about autism and to treat it. This disorder 
affects too many already. We must do what we can to eliminate future 
cases while we treat people who currently have autism. I hope we can 
all join together in this important fight and recognize the importance 
of National Autism Awareness Month.


                              Bob Newhart

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, recently The New York Times ran another 
profile of Bob Newhart. I say ``another'' because it is one of so many 
glowing articles written about him over the years.
  Marcelle and I are fortunate to know Bob and his wife Virginia, known 
by everyone as Ginnie. Bob is a wonderful family person who enjoys 
being with his wife, children, and grandchildren, but still has time to 
bring joy to everyone who comes in contact with him. As many times as I 
have heard some of his comedy routines, I still find myself convulsed 
in laughter, though nothing can equal the quiet times Marcelle and I 
have been able to spend with the Newharts.
  Bob is extraordinarily well read and well informed and brings a wry 
and insightful view to whatever is happening. I can think of no one who 
is his equal, and I ask unanimous consent that this article be printed 
in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From The New York Times, Mar. 25, 2006]

             The Button-Down Comic, Still Standing Up at 76

                            (By Ben Sisario)

       Los Angeles, March 24: Hidden behind a wide black gate, 
     with a fountain in front and a big pool in back that the 
     grandchildren love to dive into, and with the bookcases 
     inside cluttered with the likes of David McCulloch and Joseph 
     J. Ellis, Bob Newhart's house in Bel Air would seem a 
     perfectly comfortable spot for a man of 76 to cocoon and 
     write his memoirs.
       But a comedian craves the sound of laughter, and Mr. 
     Newhart, though happily deep into his golf-playing years, 
     cannot stay away from the stand-up circuit. He does about 30 
     dates a year, mostly on short weekend trips. (He will perform 
     tonight at the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts.)
       ``I can't imagine not doing it,'' he said, sitting on an 
     overstuffed sofa in his living room, in crisp gray slacks and 
     a fuzzy blue sweater, with his narrow reading glasses resting 
     at a steep angle almost at the tip of his nose. ``It's 
     something I've done for 46 years, and at 5 o'clock I'll start 
     pacing up and down to get the adrenaline going. It's like 
     Russian roulette--you're out there and it's working and 
     you're saying, `Thank God the bullet's not in the chamber.' 
     ''
       Mr. Newhart built his career on a persona that would avoid 
     tension and thrills at all cost. He emerged in the early 
     1960's as a former accountant and copywriter who acted out 
     the mundane and ridiculous details of great moments in 
     history through brilliantly minimalistic one-sided telephone 
     calls, like a gigglingly skeptical Englishman talking to Sir 
     Walter Raleigh about his discovery of tobacco. (``You take a 
     pinch of tobacco and you stuff it up your nose and it makes 
     you sneeze? Yeah, I imagine it would, Walt!'') And on two 
     long-running sitcoms, he played versions of the same 
     character, a slightly grouchy pragmatist always just a breath 
     away from losing his cool over the neurotic foibles of his 
     supporting cast.
       ``The Bob Newhart Show'' ran from 1972 to 1978 and is now 
     finding a second life on DVD; its third season is being 
     reissued April 11.

[[Page S3207]]

     And since his second sitcom, ``Newhart,'' ended in 1990 after 
     eight seasons, Mr. Newhart has lent his almost-unflappable 
     deadpan to a handful of films and television shows, most 
     recently ``ER'' and ``Desperate Housewives.'' But his 
     favorite activity remains simply standing in front of a crowd 
     with a microphone.
       ``I'm proudest of being a stand-up,'' he explained, 
     ``because it's harder. The degree of difficulty is 3.85 
     instead of 3.5.''
       It was also his baptism. Sitting in his spacious living 
     room, dressed like the frumpy innkeeper of ``Newhart'' and 
     speaking with a strategic stammer that sets up every punch 
     line, he is comfortingly recognizable as one of his 
     television characters. His naturalistic technique of relying 
     on his own personality to fill out his characters, he said, 
     is a skill he picked up early in his stand-up career.
       ``You start out doing somebody else,'' he said. ``I'd watch 
     the Sullivan show and I'd watch the Paar show, and a comedian 
     would be on, and I'd be laughing but at the same time 
     analyzing him. When I started, I was doing all the good 
     comedians I'd ever seen. Then I developed my own voice. My 
     routines are my natural way of looking at the world.''
       Mr. Newhart discusses his performance like a serious method 
     actor. He said: ``With the stand-up comic on TV, whether it's 
     Seinfeld or Cosby or Roseanne, more important than their 
     knowledge of how to tell a joke is their knowledge of 
     themselves, or the persona they've created as themselves. So 
     that when you're in a room with writers you can say, `Guys, 
     that's a funny line but I wouldn't say it.' ''
       As a stand-up, he draws from a lifetime of routines, and 
     for his oldest fans he always includes a few numbers from his 
     first albums, like the conversation between Abraham Lincoln 
     and his public relations man, who urges him not to shave his 
     beard because it plays so well in focus groups. Reading 
     recently about the Zacarias Moussaoui trial, his ``button-
     down mind'' found an angle on the 9/11 pilots, and he has 
     been toying with it as a possible stand-up bit.
       ``They didn't want to learn to take off and land,'' he 
     said. ``They just wanted to fly. Some have criticized the 
     F.B.I. because that should have been a red flag. But I saw it 
     as a case of--'' he studied his coffee table it as if it were 
     a weekly planner--`` `O.K., well, I don't have to come in 
     Monday; I can come in late Tuesday; Wednesday and Thursday, 
     O.K., that's flying; and then I don't have to come in 
     Friday.' ''
       His understated style has been widely influential, often in 
     surprising ways. One of his biggest fans is Bernie Mac, who 
     says he is but one of a generation of black comedians who 
     were inspired by Mr. Newhart.
       ``A lot of people define courage as being out front and in 
     your face,'' Mr. Mac said, ``but Bob didn't come out of his 
     picture frame for anybody. That bland style, that plaid 
     jacket, with the hair combed to one side over the bald spot--
     that was Bob. And there's nothing wrong with that. Because it 
     takes courage to be yourself, and he showed everybody that.''
       Working on his memoir, to be published in the fall by 
     Hyperion, Mr. Newhart was reminded of the time he was on 
     David Susskind's talk show with a panel of comedians, 
     including Buddy Hackett and Alan King, and Mr. Susskind asked 
     him about his background.
       `` `You went to college?' he asked,'' Mr. Newhart said. 
     ``And I said, `Yes, I went to Loyola University and I got a 
     degree in accounting.' And Buddy said--'' here Mr. Newhart 
     did a remarkable imitation of Mr. Hackett's voice--``  `You 
     mean you didn't have to do this?' ''
       ``And now I can say, `No, Buddy, I had to do this.'

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